Am I antisemitic?

As someone who grew up without any formal religious schooling, I have stumbled down an odd path from atheist to agnostic to spiritual person of faith. Yes, in my own way, I have come to believe in some things over time.

But all along, I’ve always kept a healthy distance from organized religion — including my own religion — because I am, above almost all things, a pacifist.

I believe in nonviolence, peaceful activism, kindness to others including those who are different from me. And when I look at organized religion, I see too much violence and hate. I can’t get anywhere near supporting that.

To be clear, I don’t hate any religions. But I have a deep distrust of those who use religion for their own selfish purposes. That includes the religion I was born to and have always accepted as part of my innate identity: Judaism.

But I just got called an antisemite on social media and I’m frankly dumbfounded. That’s never happened before. And I don’t know quite how to respond. So I thought I would ask others what they think of what I said.

This started with a criticism I posted of Democratic leadership in the Senate and House. I called Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries feckless in the face of an existential threat to our democracy.

In follow up to my criticism of Schumer, I said Democratic senators fear him because he controls the money divvied up to senatorial campaigns in part because of his close ties to Wall Street. Those are facts. Whether he is Jewish or not is irrelevant to me. Indeed, Mitch McConnell wielded that same power when he was Republican Minority and Majority leader in the Senate.

This has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with money in politics. And money in politics is at the root of the crisis in our democracy today.

But because Schumer is Jewish, I am now considered antisemitic for connecting him to money and Wall Street.

Yes, I have spent my whole life hearing criticism that Jews control all the money. And we are thus the root of all evil in this world. Of course I hate that stereotype. It’s not only absurd, it’s frightening to think people actually believe that.

So anyone who criticizes a Jew who happens to control money therefore must be antisemitic, right?

That’s the thing about stereotyping. It’s a trap. And it’s a tag being used to attack everything and everyone who disagrees with you. See Harvard.

It’s not right that Schumer should be stereotyped as a Jew who controls money. And it’s not right that he should be immune from criticism for the way he controls money simply because he happens to be Jewish.

I didn’t do a very good job of balancing that line, apparently. I’m open to suggestions on how to criticize a failing leader who has outsized influence over democratic campaign funding.

Because when the history of this time is written, Schumer and Jeffries will share in the blame for what happened to our democracy. No matter what their religion.